One National Guard serviceman was killed and several police officers badly wounded on Aug. 31 when an explosive device was thrown at them from among a crowd of far-right Svoboda Party and Right Sector organization protesters outside parliament.
Anton Gerashchenko, a lawmaker and adviser to the
Interior Ministry, wrote on his Facebook page that 25-year-old Igor Derbin, a
National Guard serviceman who had just started his service last spring, died in
hospital from a wound to his heart incurred during the attack.
“Apart from grenades, the provocateurs were using
firearms, shooting secretly,” Gerashchenko wrote.
Video footage uploaded to YouTube showed what appears
to have been a hand grenade being thrown from the crowd of protesters at police. The explosion knocked one officer to the ground, and several others can
be seen limping immediately after the blast. Some viewers may find these images disturbing.
Photographs from the scene posted online shortly after
showed patches of blood on the steps and on the ground near the side entrance
of the parliament, and Svoboda flags and riot gear lying on the ground. In one
picture, a riot officer is seen lying on the ground and being given first aid
beside the wall of the parliament building.
Video footage of clashes near the Rada on Aug. 31 recorded by the Kyiv Post.
The violence broke out shortly after parliament passed constitutional amendments on decentralizing power in Ukraine in the first reading. Opponents of the bill
says it capitulates to Russian demands that Ukraine adopt a federalized system
of government and gives broad autonomy to Kremlin-backed separatists.
As news spread that MPs had voted to approve the first
stage of the bill’s passage through Parliament, nationalist protesters, some
masked, pushed at police lines, beating officers with sticks and snatching riot
shields from them. A smoke bomb was then thrown at the side of parliament.
Riot police were then moved forward in force to form a
cordon about five officers thick around the parliament. Protesters continued to
attack them. Police was using tear gas on the
crowd, and protesters were apparently hurling the gas canisters back at police.
About 100 police officers were injured, and 10 of them
were heavily injured, the police said. Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said that
Deputy Interior Minister Vasyl Paskal had also been injured.
Avakov said later that a total of 122 people had been wounded during the clashes.
A Kyiv Post reporter at the scene estimated that there
were over 1,000 protestors gathered at the parliament building. Police sources
said 3,500 officers were protecting the building.
A grenade being thrown at police near the Rada.
About 30 protesters were detained during the clashes,
Avakov said.
Avakov said that the demonstrator who threw the
grenade at the police had also been detained. He is Ihor Humenyuk, a member of Svoboda and a
fighter of Svoboda’s Sich volunteer battalion, he added.
Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said that the person who threw the
grenade should get a life sentence.
Avakov blamed Svoboda and its leader Oleh Tyahnibok
for the clashes. Tyahnibok denied the accusations and attributed the clashes to
a government-orchestrated provocation.
The Kyiv prosecutor’s office said that it had opened murder and rioting
cases into the clashes.
President Petro Poroshenko commented on the events in a special address
to the nation.
“How can you call
events that unfolded near the Verkhovna Rada other than a stab in the back?!”
he said. “It was an anti-Ukrainian action for which all organizers, all
representatives of political forces without any exception must carry full
responsibility.”
Protesters interviewed by the Kyiv Post argued that
the constitutional amendments passed by the Verkhovna Rada were betrayal of
Ukraine’s national interests.
“The amendments deprive Ukraine of its independence
and legitimize terrorists,” Ihor, a 57-year old retired law enforcement
official, said.
Valentyn Lebed, a 58-year old Right Sector activist,
said he believed Poroshenko was under Russian influence. The amendments will
turn Donbas into something similar to Russian-annexed Crimea and Moldova’s
Russian-backed breakaway republic of Transdniester, he added.
Radislav, 36, objected to the provision that would
amnesty Russian-backed separatists. “That means Ukrainian troops were killed in
vain,” he said.
The bill on decentralization, which is designed to
satisfy Ukraine’s commitments under the Minsk II peace agreement signed on
February 12, caused serious splits in Ukraine’s governing coalition, but in the
end it was passed in the first reading by 265 votes – well above the 226 needed
for such a bill to pass.
The bill now goes on to the next stage of scrutiny in
parliament, and will have to garner 300 votes from the 450-member Rada to
proceed, as it entails amendments to Ukraine’s constitution.
Svoboda leader Oleh Tyahnibok during clashes with police near the Rada.
Protesters clashing with police near the Rada.
